Decapitation

A shadowy arm rummaged through the corpse's clothes and pulled out a red box. It opened the box, revealing a golden dragon-head ring.

Just as the shadow reached for it, another shadow loomed behind it.

Bang!

Xiao Qi delivered a heavy kick to the shadow's hands, snapping them instantly.

Although his awakened ability was somewhat abstract, his physical conditioning had still received a decent boost.

Clang!

The ring clattered to the ground. Xiao Qi scooped it up, a look of delight washing over his face as he spun around and bolted. I didn't expect Heaven to actually be on my side. Getting this ring was so easy!

Ducking occasionally to dodge stray bullets, he quickly sprinted into an alleyway and vanished.

Rumble!

From both ends of the street, several armored vehicles rumbled forward, forcing the government personnel locked in the chaotic melee to retreat to the sides.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Atop one of the armored vehicles, a soldier with bloodshot eyes stared down the street and pulled the trigger of his heavy machine gun. Combined with the five heavy machine guns already set up on the rooftops, they formed a dense, crisscrossing web of fire.

Orange-red tracer rounds blanketed the entire street.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Vehicles along the street exploded one after another, sending thick black smoke billowing into the air as blood pooled into streams and poured down the storm drains.

There was no longer a single living soul left on the street—nor was there even a single intact corpse.

Inside the office buildings on both sides of the street, the survivors stared in sheer terror at the bloody carnage outside.

Some couldn't help but cover their mouths, tears streaming down their faces.

The shock the Nanming Kingdom had delivered to them today far exceeded that of the red-eyed individuals who could effortlessly leap several meters into the air.

While they were fixated on the scene outside, Security Bureau agents stood behind them with phones, recording everyone's faces.

They couldn't simply allow these people to leave. They would eventually be escorted to a designated location and placed under collective house arrest.

They would be made to sign non-disclosure agreements and undergo psychological counseling. They wouldn't be released until the Yangcheng incident had completely blown over, all to prevent them from spreading rumors.

Click!

Atop an armored vehicle, the heavy machine gun in a soldier's hands clicked empty.

The other machine guns in the vicinity also finished firing, having depleted their ten thousand rounds of ammunition.

Behind the armored vehicles, a man in his thirties wearing a standard officer's uniform and chomping on a cigar watched the scene with a calm expression.

“Senior Colonel Wan Ao, all ammunition has been depleted. Should we move in to clean up the aftermath?” a soldier asked, jogging up and quickly saluting.

Wan Ao looked at the corpse-strewn street and said coldly, “Get in there and clean it up immediately. If we wait until noon, the heat will make them rot, and the stench will affect the city.”

“Yes, sir!” the soldier replied respectfully.

He turned and left, and before long, the government personnel who had been taking cover nearby mobilized.

They dragged over fire hoses to extinguish the flames, and on the other end of the street, bulldozers even drove in to scoop up the corpses and wrecked vehicles together.

A middle-aged man wearing an inspector uniform walked over, looking at the scene with a trace of reluctance. “Senior Colonel Wan, isn't this a bit too much?”

Wan Ao glanced at him and said in a chilly tone, “Deputy Chief Gong, you only need to follow orders. If we don't use extreme measures against these monsters, we'll be the ones dying. The tragedy of Ningcheng is still fresh in our minds.”

He continued, “And you don't need to feel too bad for these civilians. Their presence here simply means they were unlucky.”

As he uttered words that could easily spark a nationwide riot if leaked to the public—

—a soldier in a black military uniform behind them, keeping his head low with his cap obscuring the upper half of his face, rapidly approached the two.

When he was just five meters away, the soldier suddenly snapped his head up, revealing crimson eyes. He whipped an axe out from his coat and lunged at them.

The commotion behind him made Wan Ao turn around, only to meet an axe burying itself deep into his neck.

Pfft!

The Night Slave ripped the axe out, and blood sprayed two to three meters like an open faucet.

Wan Ao clutched his neck, his cold expression replaced by utter disbelief and terror. “Ugh...”

He pressed his hands against the gaping wound in his neck, stumbling back a few steps before his body collapsed from rapid blood loss.

The surrounding soldiers, including Gong Feng, were stunned. They had all been focused on the situation on the street. Since everyone behind them was supposed to be on their side, none of them had expected this to happen.

In the next instant, the Night Slave swung his axe at Gong Feng. Gong Feng hastily retreated while trying to draw his gun.

Pfft!

But how could his speed compare to a Night Slave's? The axe sliced right into the center of his chest, performing a makeshift open-chest surgery on the spot as blood quickly dyed his uniform red.

Bang!

Just as the Night Slave was about to deliver a second strike, his skull blew open, brain matter flying into the air.

The Night Slave stiffened and collapsed on the spot.

“Save them, quick!” The surrounding soldiers swarmed in, lifting the two injured men and rushing toward a nearby ambulance.

The remaining lower-ranking officers gasped in horror as they watched their highest-ranking commander get cut down.

A middle-aged battalion commander quickly scanned his surroundings, terrified that another red-eyed maniac might charge out to hack him to pieces.

“You, and you guys over there! Stop clearing the corpses and get over here with me right now!” After checking his surroundings and finding no immediate threats, he hurriedly barked orders at several soldiers who were about to clean up the bodies.

Meanwhile, in a nuclear bunker somewhere in Yangcheng.

This was the true command center of Yangcheng. All ground operations—including the ruthless decision to treat civilians and Night Slaves with equal lethality—were dispatched from here.

“Chief Xu Qiulan has fallen in battle. Garrison Senior Colonel Wan Ao has fallen in battle. Deputy Chief Gong Feng of the Inspector Bureau is heavily injured.”

“We have lost four hundred and seventy personnel across the military, the Security Bureau, and the Inspector Bureau. Eight hundred and twenty-two are wounded. Civilian casualties stand at one thousand three hundred and fifty-one dead. Four hundred and eighty-nine enemies have been neutralized!”

A woman holding a file read aloud in a solemn tone.

Before her was a long, rectangular brown table, around which sat five individuals.

Security Bureau Chief Lu Senyu sat at the head of the table. To his left were Team Leaders Wang Hai and Song Lianhu of Teams One and Two.

To his right sat a white-haired elder in a military uniform, and next to the elder was a middle-aged man in his fifties—the Chief of the Yangcheng Inspector Bureau.

Everyone was currently staring at a screen to their left, which was broadcasting the carnage on the streets in real-time.

Sun Longxi, the Chief of the Inspector Bureau, went pale as he listened to the massive casualty report.

If the top leadership of the Security Bureau hadn't taken direct charge of this operation, a casualty list of this scale would have been enough to land him a life sentence or even a firing squad.

Lu Senyu turned to look at the group, and everyone immediately shifted their gaze from the screen, waiting for him to speak.

Lu Senyu looked at everyone and said, “Gentlemen, our ability to eliminate so many enemies in Yangcheng this time proves that our determination was correct. The Nanming Kingdom will absolutely never repeat the same mistake we made in Ningcheng.”

“At the same time, I deeply regret the loss of Chief Xu Qiulan and our other high-ranking officers. The enemy is incredibly ruthless and cunning. Therefore, I have decided that from now on, unless absolutely necessary...”

“...none of us will leave this bunker or show our faces, lest we be targeted for decapitation!” As Lu Senyu spoke, his heart was far from calm.

The enemy was deliberately targeting high-ranking officials for decapitation strikes, and the individual combat strength between the two sides was severely unbalanced.

The enemy was also hiding in the shadows. Without knowing their exact locations, it was impossible to launch more devastating military strikes.

This meant that if he exposed himself in Yangcheng, he would essentially be signing his own death warrant. His personal guards wouldn't stand a chance of protecting him.